C }C X X i K ANNIVERSARY 



FOUNDING 



^W-YORK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 



.A.FBJ:L 5th, 1900. 



^^ 






■' 'I- ■ 






'■'^"'^L. 









O-^t 




• "' '^^T— ,--i^ 









^^'^ ,*w ^O' ^»^ y^i-. 









'^t^^^^^^S^Jj^ 




: -^W AV< ^.ft^ "^W ^^^ h 
















->! 




^■^<:>^ '^%- "-'swv*:^ 




ARTOTYPE, c. BIERSTADT, N. 



MORRIS K. JESUP, 

Twenty-eighth President of the Chamber of Commerce. 



J -y - If 



cxxxii. a.n:n^ivers^ry 



FOUNDING 




-!ORK GHJIMBE[[ OF COMMERCE 



APRIL 5th, 1900. 



NEW-YOIiK: 
PRESS OP THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 

1900. 






i- 



12J§'09 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Introductory Note 3 

The Death of Mr. Solon Humphreys, Treasurer of the Chamber 9 

Report of the Executive Committee : 

Election of Members 14 

Election of the Hon. Abeam S. Hewitt and Mr. Hugh H. 
Hanna, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Indian- 
apolis Monetary Couventiou, as Honorary Members of the 

Chamber 15 

Eeception to Mr. Hugh H. Hanna by the Chamber 16 

The Executive Committee to act as a Reception Committee 16 

Appointment of a Nominating Committee 16 

Amendments to the By-Laws 17 

The Secretary to act temporarily as the Treasurer of the Chamber. 17 

Report of the Committee on a Building for the Chamber 17 

Subscribers to the Building Fund 20 

Report of the Special Committee on Taxation 36 

Speech of Mr. Alexander E. Ore, President of the Rapid Transit 

Railroad Commission 46 

A Gold Medal to be presented to the Hon. Abkam S. Hewitt, in 
recognition of the eminent services rendered in connection with 

Rapid Transit 50 

Speech of Mr. Chaeles S. Smith 51 

Speech of Mr. William E. Dodge 52 

The thanks of the Chamber tendered to Mr. Alexander E. Orr . 52 
The services of Mr. Hugh H. Hanna in the cause of Currency Re- 
form and the Gold Stand ard , 53 

A Gold Medal to be presented to Mr. Hanna 54 

Speech of Mr. Dodge 54 

The Proposed IJp-town Post Office 56 

Reform of the Postal Service 57 

Proposed Reduction in the Internal Revenue Taxes 58 

Communication from Merchants of Havana 58 

Appointment of a Committee to Audit the Accounts of the Treasurer.. 58 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



The record of the proceedings of the meeting of the 
Chamber of Commerce on April 5th, 1900, has a histori- 
cal significance which will be more fully appreciated as 
years roll by. Future generations of New- York mer- 
chants will recall with interest the fact that just one 
hundred and thirty- two years after the day on which 
the Chamber was organized, its Building Committee 
was able to announce the completion of the fund of 
One Million of Dollars subscribed to supply it with a 
permanent home, owned and paid for by its own 
members. There will be no more interesting record 
for a posterity curious to know about the New- York of 
to-day than the list of subscribers to the Building 
Fund of the Chamber, and no more suggestive phase 
of the development of the commercial history of the 
City than that which is marked by the transformation 
of the Chamber from a tenant at will into the owner 
of a building specially dedicated to its own use. 

The migrations of the Chamber constitute a most in- 
teresting chapter of New- York history, and the narrow 
range within which they have been circumscribed illus- 
trates the historic continuity of the present business 
centre of the City. From the place of its organization 



in Bolton & Sigell's, now known as Feaunoes' 
Tavern, corner of Broad and Pearl streets, the Chamber 
moved to "The Exchange," a little lower down Broad- 
street, and ten years later saw its meetings held at " The 
Merchants' Coffee House," on the southeast corner of 
Wall and Water streets. Thirty-eight years after, 
when the young Republic was securely established, and 
James Monkoe was President of tbe United States, the 
Chamber moved across the street to the "Tontine 
Coffee House," where its meetings were held for another 
ten years. It was two years after the completion of the 
Erie Canal, and when it was becoming apparent that the 
commercial primacy of the Union was to rest with New- 
York, and that the City was destined to take a place 
beside the greatest metropolitan centres of the world, 
that the Chamber moved up to the Merchants' Ex- 
change, on the site of the present Custom House. 
When that building was burned down in 1835 the hos- 
pitality of the Directors' Room of the Merchants' Bank, 
at No. 42 Wall-street, was extended to the members of 
the Chamber. This they enjoyed for twenty-three years, 
till their increasing numbers and the enlarged scope of 
the work of the Chamber rendered it necessary to hire 
rooms at No. 63 William-street. These were occupied 
for twenty-six years— a period no less memorable in the 
history of the country than replete with evidences of 
how important a factor the Chamber had become in 
the public affairs, not only of the City and State, but of 
the Country as a whole. The occupancy of the present 
quarters of the Chamber will always be memorable as 
marking the final stage of a development which it has 
taken four generations to mature, and which gives 



ample assurance of a stability, dignity and permanence 
undreamed of by the original twenty New- York mer- 
chants of 1768. 

Founded in the eighth year of the Reign of King 
Geoege the Third, while New- York was still a British 
Colony, the history of the Chamber between its first and 
its one hundred and thirty- second meeting bridges over 
the long period between the first manifestations of the 
spirit of American Independence and the development 
of the United States into one of the greatest of com- 
mercial and industrial powers. The most remarkable 
of all the conquests of the Republic has been its con- 
quest of foreign markets, and the Chamber has always 
stood as the exponent of the most intelligent opinion 
and progressive policy of the merchants of the great 
emporium of the foreign trade of the country. The 
record given herewith of the proceedings of an ordinary 
monthly meeting is eminently typical of the standard 
of character and the scope of activity which have given 
the Chamber its representative character and its unique 
influence. 

First. There is a special tribute to the memory of a 
great New- York merchant — one of those whose energy, 
enterprise, and unsullied probity, have so largely con- 
tributed to the real greatness of the city. The varied 
and comprehensive character of the commercial and 
financial activity of SoLOjsr Humpheeys illustrates the 
share which New- York has borne in the development of 
the country, no less than in the expansion of its foreign 
trade. The large minded liberality of the man was 
merely a complement to the breadth and boldness of his 



6 

business transactions, and the combination of perfect 
unselfishness with the highest order of commercial 
ability, has served to place him in the ranks of those 
who have made membership of the Chamber a distinc- 
tion to be sought and cherished. In the roll of honor 
of that membership the name of Solon Humpheeys 
will always hold a place of special distinction. 

It was eminently fitting that the same meeting at 
which a tribute was paid to the memory of the late 
Treasurer of the Chamber should add to the list of the 
honorary members two such men as Abeam S. Hewitt 
and Hugh H. Haistista. The first can be justly credited 
with such services to the City, State and Nation as few 
men have been able to render, and the work of the 
second in bringing about the establishment, on a basis 
of unquestioned soundness, of the monetary system of 
the United States, is one of those achievements in which 
the Chamber has always borne a conspicuous share, and 
which it has always delighted to honor. 

In all the history of the Chamber there has been no 
duty performed by any member calculated to reflect more 
credit on all concerned than that so fitly entrusted to 
Mr. Alexander E. Oer, as Chairman of the Building 
Committee. To give emphasis to the approaching close 
of the nomadic period of the history of the Chamber 
by presenting the completed result of the effort to give 
additional dignity and permanence to the time-honored 
Association for which it stands, was a task which could 
not ha-ve been confided to hands more capable or more 
appropriate. The story so well summarized by Mr. Oee 
belongs not only to the history of the City and State, 
but to that of the whole Country, and it is merely the 



/ 



introduction to a still larger cycle of usel'ulness in 
which the Chamber will be called on to do its fnll share 
toward maintaining the growing greatness of the Re- 
public and its greatest commercial City. 

As an illustration of the place which the Chamber has 
always occupied as the intelligent and authoritative 
critic of legislation bearing on the commercial interests 
of the City, the report presented by Mr. Geoege F. 
Sewakd on a bill before the State Legislature purport- 
ing to provide for a more equitable distribution of the 
burdens of taxation, is a most valuable contribution to 
the present record. The statesmanlike breadth of view 
which has characterized all the deliverances of the 
Chamber on this subject is very fully exemplified in the 
careful and conscientious study of a highly complex 
question submitted by Mr. Sewaed and his associates 
of the Special Committee. 

Another timely proof of the beneficent influence of 
the Chamber on questions vitally related to the welfare 
of the citizens of New- York is furnished in the account 
given by Mr. Alexandee E. Oee of the fruition of the 
labors of the Rapid Transit Commission. Originating in 
a suggestion made by the Hon. Abeam S. Hewitt, while 
Mayor of the City, the project of municipal construc- 
tion of an adequate system of rapid transit took shape 
in a bill prepared under the supervision of Mr. Hewitt, 
approved by the Chamber, and backed by all the weight 
of its character and influence. No personal tribute 
which the Chamber has rendered in all its history has 
been more fully deserved, or has possessed a more 
enduring significance than that which takes the form of 
a gold medal to be struck in recognition of the eminent 



8 

services of the Hon. Abeam S. Hewitt in the cause of 
Civic Rapid Transit under Municipal ownership. 

It was a graceful and fitting pendant to this mark of 
recognition of Mr. Hewitt's share in securing rapid 
transit for the people of the City of New- York that the 
services of Mr. Alexandee E. Oee, as President of the 
Rapid Transit Railroad Commission, should have been 
suitably acknowledged. 

It was equally an evidence of the place which the 
Chamber fills in the broader activity of the affairs of 
the country at large that a gold medal should have been 
awarded to Mr. Hugpi H. Hanna, who, as Chairman of 
the Executive Committee of the Indianapolis Monetary 
Convention, has devoted years of painstaking labor to 
bringing about the enactment of the essential part of 
the currency plan of that Convention as the law of the 
land. In thus honoring Mr. Hanna, the Chamber 
marks the successful conclusion of a work of popular 
education to which its members largely contributed, 
and in which its own well directed influence bore a 
highly important share. 

New-Yoek, June 6th, 1900. 



CXXXII. ANNIVERSARY 



OF THE FOUNDINO OP THE 



New-York Chamber of Commerce. 



Proceedings of the regular montlily meeting of the 
Chamber of Commerce, held Thursday, April 5th, 1900, 
at the Rooms of the Chamber, on Nassau- street, 
between Cedar and Liberty streets. 

PRESENT. 

Morris K. Jesup, President. 

Henry Hentz, 1 

Woodbury Langdon, J- Vice-Presidents. 

William E. Dodge, j 

George Wilson, Secretary. 

And a large number of members of the Chamber. 

The Death of Mr. Solon Humphreys, Treasurer of the 

Chamber, 

The President. — Gentlemen, before proceeding with 
the regular order of business, it seems to me to be 
fitting and proper to announce to you, which I do most 
painfully, the death of our esteemed and beloved 
Treasurer, Mr. Solon Humphreys, who has passed 
away since our last meeting. 



10 

As you all know, Mr. Humphreys has been Treasurer 
of the Chamber for the long period of twenty-two 
years, and by his kindly acts, courteous demeanor and 
faithful attention to his duties, has won the love and 
respect of us all. 

Mr. A. Foster Higgins. — Mr. President, in response 
to your request, I have prepared for the records of the 
Chamber, a minute in regard to the death of Mr. Hum- 
phreys, which I will read. 

Died at his residence, at Bayonne, New-Jersey, on 
the sixth day of March last, at half -past two o'clock in 
the afternoon, Solon Humphreys, for twenty-two years 
the trusted and faithful Treasurer of the Chamber. It 
is deemed a fitting tribute to worthiness and profitable 
to ourselves and those who are to come after us to place 
upon our records a brief history of one whom to know 
was to love, and who in his life and deeds presented 
a notable instance of honor, integrity and business 
ability. 

Mr. Humphreys was the son of Colonel and Mrs. 
Decius Humphreys, his father being sixth in descent 
from Michael Humphreys, who emigrated from Lyme- 
Regis, England, to Windsor, Connecticut, in 1640, and 
was a distinguished man in his day. 

The subject of this sketch was born October 27th, 
1821, and was educated at the High School of his native 
place, in Wright's Academy, East Hartford, and in St. 
John's College, Annapolis, Md. After completing his 
education he entered the employ of E. D. Morgan & 
Co., of New- York, and remained with them five years, 
imbibing and being built up in the stern principles of 
integrity and honorable dealing which ever character- 
ized the firm of our " War Grovernor." In 1846 Mr. 
Humphreys removed to St. Louis, and engaged in the 
wholesale grocery and commission business, for Avhich 




PHOT 8V FHEORIC 



SOLON HUMPHREYS, 

Treasuper of the Chainber of Commeroe. 



11 

his sojourn in New- York well fitted liim. Shortly 
thereafter, in 1847, he married Miss Mary Ellen, 
daughter of Edward Walsh, one of the leading and 
most highly esteemed merchants of St. Louis. After a 
prosperoiis sojourn of nine years in St. Louis Mr. 
Humphreys was invited, in 1854, to enter the firm of 
his old employers, and he returned to New- York and 
became a member of the noted firm of E. D. Morgan & 
Co., with which he has ever since been connected. A 
firm, than whom none ever stood higher, in every 
attribute worthy of praise — each and every one of 
whose members, by his uuswerviiig patriotism, advice 
and action, ever aided in supporting the Government 
during its fiery ordeals, and struggle for self-preserva- 
tion, and held up the hands of their leader and prin- 
cipal, in his sturdy and unceasing exertions in aid of 
Mr. LiisrcoLN, for which he gained the title of " Our 
War Governor." The members of this firm were again 
and again personally consulted in all the perplexing 
questions of Finance, Tariff, and other measures of 
expediency, by Congressmen, Secretaries of the Treas- 
ury and the highest authorities ; and it may well be 
conceded, that their wise and prudent judgment was 
influential in so moulding many of these matters that 
the happy result of victory and peace were finally 
attained ; and since, their views on all subjects of Tariff 
Legislation have been invariably sought by those direct- 
ing such legislation, and their practical knowledge and 
sense given consideration. In all these matters Mr. 
Humphreys contributed his full share. 

In addition to their very large dealings in tea, coffee 
and sugar, and other merchandise, imported from all 
quarters of the globe, the firm handled large blocks of 
financial securities — the development of railroads at this 
time pressing upon the whole country to the exclusion 
of many other important industries. And Mr. Hum- 
phreys' Western connections led him to take an active 



12 

part in the organization of certain railroads, notably tlie 
Iron Mountain and Ohio and Mississippi roads — while 
his firm were the agents for the bonds of the State of 
Missouri, issued to its roads. In 1871 he was active in 
the re-organization of the North Missouri Railroad into 
the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railroad, and 
in 1879 he was instrumental in the consolidation of that 
road and the Wabash line into the Wabash, St. Louis 
and Pacific Railroad, of which he afterwards became 
President, and in 1884 Receiver. Mr. Humphreys was 
also one of the promoters of the great bridge over the 
Mississippi River, at St. Louis, costing twelve millions 
of dollars, and in 1879 vvas made its Receiver, and Presi- 
dent of the re-organized Company in 1879. He was 
elected Vice-President of the Pittsburgh and Western 
Railroad Company in 1881, and held the office for some 
years. Mr. Humphreys also occupied other positions 
of trust, such as, for 27 years. Resident Director of the 
North British Fire Insurance Company, and for 28 
years one of the Advisory Committee of the United 
States Lloyds Marine Insurance Organization. He was 
elected as Vice-President of this Chamber in 1873, and 
its Treasurer in 1878, which he occupied at his death. 

Such is a partial sketch of his public career ; and 
whatever lustre it may shed upon him, it is but a moon- 
beam when compared with the sunshine of his private 
and personal character. His deeds in this portion of 
his life were all too modest and shrinking to justify any 
attempt to name them. The place which he selected 
for his home during 46 years of his life, bears innumer- 
able records of a continuous stream of benevolence and 
love, some of them, such as the beautiful Trinity 
Episcopal Church and Rectory, the Bayonne and 
Greenville Gras Company, the Mechanics' Trust Com- 
pany, the Bayonne Hospital and the Workingmen's 
Library, and especially the St. Mary's Roman Catholic 
Church, all bear testimony to his consideration for his 




PHOT, BY KURTZ 



A. FOSTER HIGGINS. 

Chairman of the Committee on the Harbor and Shippinci. 



13 

fellow citizens, and the latter instance to the breadth 
and grandeur of his religious views ; his liberality knew 
no limit of prejudice, and no needy person was turned 
away unheard or unaided. 

Mr, HuMPHEETS was a man of striking and most 
winning personal appearance — a large and most com- 
manding figure, dark hazel eyes, of brilliant and 
piercing character, very high forehead — mouth indicat- 
ing great firmness, but melting into a fascinating smile, 
no one could approach him without confidence, and 
with his sunny and ever hopeful disposition, probably 
no one in distress ever left him without feeling consoled. 
If Mr. Humphreys had a trait which could be deemed 
a fault, it was the emanation from a virtue. His un- 
bounded confidence in those whom he trusted led to 
many anticipations based upon their promises, which at 
times led to disappointment and disaster, but of such 
he bore the full brunt, nor ever sought to turn responsi- 
bility upon others. His partner volunteered a most 
touching testimonial to him— that in 63 years of close 
communion he had never known Solon Humphreys to 
be other than an utterly unselfish man, nor had he 
during all that period ever known Mr. Humphreys to 
say an unpleasant thing of any one. With this 
conclusive evidence this Chamber may well exult in his 
character, and say in truth Solon" Humphreys was one 
of "nature's noblemen" as well as as one of "JSTew- 
York's merchant princes." 

The following resolutions are offered for adoption : 

Resolned^ That it is with a deep sense of profound 
sorrow that this Chamber learns of the departure from 
this life of its long associate member, Vice-President 
and Treasurer, Solon HuMPHRErs, Esq., in whom was 
exhibited the noblest traits of manhood and the crown- 
ing virtues of Christianity. 



14 

Resolved^ That in extending to the aged partner of his 
long life and recipient of his devoted love, our heartfelt 
sympathy in her temporary separation from him whom 
she loved so well, yet we rejoice with her in the grand 
record of his life, which we, and all who come after us, 
can look back upon with so much satisfaction and grati- 
tude ; and pray that she may be sustained by an all 
abounding grace, until the time comes for her happy 
re-union with him. 

Hesolved, That the minute and resolutions be printed 
by the Secretary, and a copy be sent to the family of 
Mr. Humphreys. 

The President. — Gentlemen, what is your pleasure? 
Those in favor of the adoption of this touching tribute 
and the resolutions attached thereto will say aye ; con- 
trary minded, no. 

They are unanimously adopted. 

The Chamber then proceeded with the regular order 
of business. 

On motion of Mr. Henry Hentz, the reading of the 
minutes of the regular meetings, held February 1st 
and March 1st, was dispensed vvith. 

Report of the JSxecative Committee— Election of Members, 

Mr. Charles S. Smith, Chairman of the Executive 
Committee, reported the following named candidates 
for membership, and recommended their election : 

Nominated by 

Henry Harris Barnard, Jordan L. Mott. 
Elliott Thomas Barrows, Perry P. Williams. 
Frank Brainard, Perry P. Williams. 




PHOTO. BY FALK. 



ARTOTVPE, E. BItRSTAOT, N. 



CHARLES S. SMITH, 

Ex-Preiii<1ent of the Chamber of Cominepce and Chairman 
of its Executive Connnriittee. 



15 



Howard M. Cook, 
Henry P. Davison, 

George S. Dearborn, 
Charles de Rham, Jr., 
G-EORGE W. Ely, 
Benjamin Graham, 
Francis V. Greene, 
Joseph A. Jones, 
Alfred Kessler, 
James Brown Lord, 
John B. McDonald, 
Geo. Hammond McLean, 
Robert H. Martin, 
Daniel P. Morse, 
Wm. Barclay Parsons, 

RORERT W. PaTERSON, 



Nominated by 

Solon Humphreys. 
William H. Porter. 
David B. Dearborn. 
O. Egerton Schmidt. 
George F. Cummings. 
Morris K. Jesup. 
Charles S. Smith. 
GusTAV. H. Schwab. 
Gustav E. Kissel. 
Morris K. Jesup. 
Alexander E. Orr. 
J. Sinclair Armstrong. 
James G. Cannon. 
Henry Hentz. 
Alexander E. Orr. 
John S. Kennedy. 



John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Alexander E. Orr. 



Harry Sachs, 
Edwin Holden Smith, 
Isaac JST. Spiegelberg, 
Lucius M. Stanton, 
Paul G. Thebaud, 
Robert B.Yan Cortlandt, 
Cornelius Vanderbilt, 
William R. Warren, 
Charles T. Wills, 



Samuel Sachs. 
William Skinner, Jr. 
IsiDOR Straus. 
William H. B. Totten. 
Howard Willets, 
John Sloane. 
Alexander E. Orr. 
William Brookfield. 
Morris K. Jesup. 



These gentlemen were, on one ballot, unanimously 
elected members of the Chamber. 



Election of the Hon. Abram S, Hewitt and Mr. Hugh H. 
Hanna as Honorary Members of the Chamber, 

Mr. Smith reported the following resolution : 

Resolved, That the Executive Committee hereby 
nominates as an honorary member of the Chamber the 



16 

Honorable Abeam S. Hewitt, in consideration of his 
long and valuable services to the City, State and 
Nation, and with especial regard to his initiation in this 
body, of the Rapid Transit plan under which the con- 
tract was awarded and the work is now proceding. 

Mr. Smith also nominated Mr. Hugh H. Hanna, 
Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Indian- 
apolis Monetary Convention, for honorary membership. 

The President put the question, and Mr. Hevs^itt and 
Mr. Hanna were, by acclamation, unanimously elected 
honorary members of the Chamber. 

Reception to Mr. Hanna. 

Mr. Smith further reported that the Executive Com- 
mittee had decided to recommend the Chamber to give 
a reception to Mr. Hanna, at these rooms, on Tuesday 
next, April 10th, at half-past twelve o'clock, P. M. 

The Executive Committee to act as a Reception Committee, 

The recommendation was unanimously agreed to, and 
the Executive Committee was requested to act as a 
Reception Committee on the occasion. 

Appointment of a Nominating Committee, 

Mr. Smith reported the following resolution, which 
was unanimously adopted : 

Resolved, That Messrs. Henry Hentz, A. Foster 
Higgins and William H. Porter be, and they are 
hereby appointed a Special Committee to nominate 
Officers and Standing Committees of the Chamber for 
election at the annual meeting, to be held on the 3d 
proximo. 




ARTOTYPE, E. BIERSTADT, 



HUGH H. HANNA, 

Chairman of the Executive Committee of the 
Indianapnhs Monetary Convention. 



17 

Amendments to the Hy-Latvs. 

Mr. Smith.— Mr. President, iu view of the prospect 
that the Chamber will, in the near future, come into 
possession of a permanent home, I have been requested 
to report the following resolution : 

Resolved, That a Committee of Three be appointed 
by the Chair, of which the President shall be the 
Chairman, whose duty it shall be to consider and report 
to the Chamber what changes or amendments to the 
By-Laws may be desirable and necessary in order to 
facilitate the purchase of real estate and the erection 
of a building, and to the performance of any and all 
acts necessary and requisite under the circumstances 
connected with the new building. 

This resolution was unanimously adopted, and the 
President appointed as his associates, Messrs. Charles 
S, Smith and J. Edward Simmons. 

Tlie Secretary to act temporarily as Treasurer of the 

Chamber. 

On the recommendation of the Executive Committee, 
the Secretary of the Chamber was authorized to act as 
Treasurer, in place of the late Mr. Solon Humphreys, 
until the annual meeting on the 3d proximo. 

Meport of the Comm.ittee on a Building for the Chamher. 

Mr. Alexander E. Ore, Chairman of the Building 
Committee, submitted and read the following report : 

To the Chamber of Commerce : 

Gentlemen : With very great pleasure, and on be- 
half of the Building Committee of the Chamber, I beg 
to report that the aggregate of one million of dollars 



18 

lias been subscribed to the building fund, and that 
under the terms of subscription, payments may now 
be made, either in one sum or in quarterly payments, 
extending throughout the year, at the option of the 
subscriber, and that all payments will be entitled 
to interest from the date on which they are received. 
Subscriptions have been received from 672 of our 1,250 
members and from two ladies, (Mrs. William E. 
Dodge, Senior, and Mrs. Josiah M. Fisk, in me- 
moriam,) and while their laudable action enables 
the Chamber to declare that the plan which was formu- 
lated to make provision for owning our own home is 
now operative, it is not intended to mean that the sub- 
scription lists are closed, but that opportunity still 
remains to all of our non-subscribing members who may 
yet feel inclined to assist in furthering the good work 
that has been so auspiciously inaugurated. 

I am sure it will interest us all to know that on the 
5th of April, 1768, just one hundred and thirty-two 
years ago to-day, twenty New- York merchants met to- 
gether at the Tavern kept by Bolton" & Sigell, (which 
is still standing on the southeast corner of Broad and 
Pearl Streets, and the same at which, on December 4th, 
1783, Washington took farewell leave of his officers,) 
and organized the New- York Chamber of Commerce. 
Since then the Chamber has had no permanent abiding 
place, its wanderings being as follows : 

In 1769, its meetings were held in a building called 
"The Exchange," at the lower end of Broad Street. 
In 1779, removal was made to "The Merchants' 
Coffee House," on the southeast corner of Wall and 
Water Streets. There it remained till 1817, when an- 
other move was made to the "Tontine Coffee House," 
on the northwest corner of the same streets. In 1827, a 
still further change took place to the Merchants' Ex- 
change, then occupying the site of the present Custom 
House, where it remained till that building was de- 




HOT BY PARTRIDGE, BOSTON 



TOTYPE, E. 61ERSTA0T, 



ALEXANDER E. ORR, 

Ex-President of the Chamber of Commeroe and Chairman 
of Its Buildinc) Committee. 




C5 
<0 

Q. 

V . 
C X 
R CO 

0! 

25 

CQ CO 



Ji C 



T3 

5 £ 

(c 

•C 

S 4) 



J 5 

O r 

CQ .= 
5 



19 

stroyed by fire in 1835. It then found shelter for many 
years in the Directors' room of the Merchants' Bank, 
No. 42 Wall Street, leaving it in 1858 for rooms in the 
building, No. 63 William Street, and, finally, in 1884, 
it moved into its present quarters. 

Although the migrations of the Chamber were numer- 
ous its members seemed to have enjoyed what, in the 
early days of its history, was considered solid comfort. 
It is recorded that at all meetings, and until well into 
the present century, the Treasurer was obliged to provide 
bread and cheese, beer, punch, pipes and tobacco, the 
expense to be paid by the members present, "but not 
to exceed one shilling a piece," and in order to obtain 
a full attendance it was decreed "that members not 
attending the monthly meetings were to be fined two 
shillings each." 

In later years several efforts have been made to pro- 
vide a suitable building for the Chamber, but they all 
failed for the reason that while as an Association, re- 
markable as ours has always been for educating its 
members into a system of princely giving towards main- 
taining works of philanthropy and charity, in founding 
universities of learning and libraries, in cultivating the 
arts and sciences, and all else that pertains to the eleva- 
tion, refinement and happiness of a great community, 
it failed completely to apjjreciate that phase of charity 
which the good old i^roverb describes as "beginning 
at home." 

But times and conditions have changed, and with 
them our nomadic propensities have changed also. We 
are beginning to realize that we owe something to our- 
selves, to our City and to the State that we commer- 
cially represent, which we now propose to liquidate, 
and in the doing of which we will also add to our own 
self-respect, and give additional dignity and perma- 
nancy to our time-honored Association. 

In conclusion, I desire especially to emphasize the 



20 

generous aid rendered your Committee by Morris K. 
Jesup, J. PiERPONT Morgan and John D. Rocke- 
feller. Not only did they make the exceedingly 
liberal subscription of $25,000 each when our enterprise 
was first inaugurated, but when it became evident that 
heroic measures were necessary to reach the goal aimed 
for, they increased the amount in each instance to §50,000, 
and even then, when $1,500 more were needed to 
complete the $1,000,000, at which point all subscriptions 
became payable, Mr. Jesup insisted ujpon supplying 
the deficit, thereby enabling the plan to be immediately 
declared operative. The names and amounts of all sub- 
scribing members are submitted with this report. 

Your Committee presents the following resolution for 
consideration by the Chamber : 

Besolved, That this Chamber thoroughly appreciates 
the action of its subscribing members to the Building 
Fund ; it congratulates all its members upon the pros- 
pect of soon being possessed of its own building, and as 
the dignity and utility of that building will depend 
upon the amount of money at its disposition, it invites 
the co-operation of those of its members who have not 
subscribed upon the same conditions under which pre- 
vious subscriptions have been received. 
Respectfully submitted. 

(Signed,) A. E. Orr, Chairman. 
New-York, April Uh, 1900. 

Subscribers to the Building Fund, 

Morris K. Jesup $51,500 

J.' FiERPONT Morgan 50,000 

John D. Rockefeller 50,000 

D. Willis James 25,000 

John S. Kennedy 25,000 

Cornelius Vanderbilt 25,000 




ARTOTYPE, E. BIERSTAOT, 



JOHN CRUGER, 

First President of the Chamber of Commepce. 



21 



William E. Dodge ' $25,000 

Samuel D. Babcock 25,000 

KuHN, LoEB & Co 25,000 

Andeew Carnegie 25,000 

Alexander E. Ore 15,000 

Mrs. Wm. E. Dodge, Sr 10,000 

Woodbury Lanqdon 10,000 

John Claflin 10,000 

James T. Woodward 10,000 

Henry H. Rogers 10,000 

John L. Riker 10,000 

James M. Constable 10,000 

James Stillman 10,000 

Brown Brothers & Co 10,000 

William Ziegler 10,000 

J. & W. Seligman & Co 10,000 

James Speyer 10,000 

Charles Stewart Smith 5,000 

James B. Colgate 6,000 

Seth Low 5,000 

Cornelius IST. Bliss 6,000 

Richard T. Wilson 5,000 

Darius O. Mills 6,000 

Francis A. Palmer 5,000 

Charles A. Hoyt 5,000 

Robert Maclay 5,000 

John Sloane 5,000 

George Poster Peabody 5,000 

Spencer Teask 6,000 

M. GtUGGenheim's Sons 5,000 

Louis Stern 5,000 

George J. Gould 5,000 

Mrs. JosiAH M. Fiske 5,000 

John W. Mackay 6,000 

George A. Hearn 5,000 

Hugh O'Neill 5,000 

Aug. D. Juilliard & Co 5,000 



22 



William C. Whitney $5,000 

Levi P. Morton 5,000 

CoLLis P. Huntington 5,000 

David B. Ivison 5,000 

Geoege Coppell 6,000 

Adams Express Company, by Levi 

C. Weir, President 5,000 

Lewisohn Beothees 5,000 

William Rockefeller 5,000 

Henry M. Flaglee 5,000 

August Belmont 5,000 

George G. Williams 6,000 

George A. Kessler 5,000 

Alfred Van Santvooed 3,000 

Heney Hentz 2,500 

Anson Phelps Stokes 2,500 

William Tousey 2,500 

E.ICHAED Deeves 2,500 

John D. Crimmins 2,500 

H. C. Von Post 2,500 

John D. Aechbold 2,500 

Jacob Wendell 2,600 

Adeian Iselin, Jr 2,500 

Geoege T. Bliss 2,500 

Samuel D. Coykendall 2,600 

William D. Sloane 2,500 

Claeence M. Hyde 2,500 

L. Steaus & Sons 2,500 

Isaac N. Seligman 2,500 

James S. T. Steanahan 2,600 

KouNTZE Beothees 2,500 

Aethue H. Heaen 2,600 

La-denbueg, Thalmann & Co 2,600 

RoBEET A. C. Smith 2,000 

Edwaed H. R. Lyman 2,000 

Heney W. Cannon 2,000 

Predeeick p. Olcott 2,000 



23 



Abraham Abraham $2,000 

Casimir Tag 2,000 

Isaac Stern 2,000 

Chaeles a. Schieeen 2,000 

Chaeles L. Tiffany 2,000 

Edward H. Yan Ingen 2, 000 

William Waldorf Astoe 2,000 

Henet Villaed 2,000 

Felix Campbell 2,000 

Adeian Iselin" 2,000 

J. Kennedy Tod 2,000 

John T. Teeey 2,000 

Feank S. Jones 2,000 

Charles Laniee 2,000 

Benjamin Altman 2,000 

James W. Pinchot 2,000 

William H. Webb 1,000 

James McCeeeey 1,000 

J. Ceawfoed McCeeeey 1,000 

Thomas Roseveae 1,000 

HowAED C. Smith 1,000 

Caell H. De Silvee 1,000 

Cheistophee C. Shayne 1,000 

CoENELius Zabeiskie 1,000 

HoEACE E. Gaeth 1,000 

Alexandee M. White 1,000 

Alfeed T. White 1,000 

GusTAV H. Schwab 1,000 

Heemann C. Schwab 1,000 

Abeam S. Hewitt 1,000 

Edwaed Cooper 1,000 

Yeenon H. Beown 1,000 

Samuel Sloan 1,000 

John A. Stewaet 1,000 

Samuel P. Aveey 1,000 

Charles M. Peatt 1,000 

Edmund Hendeicks 1,000 



24 



Oliver S. Caeter $1,000 

Frederick Sturges 1,000 

John Harsen Rhoades 1,000 

Charles R. Flint 1,000 

Elkan Naumburg 1,000 

William Butler Duncan 1,000 

George W. Smith 1,000 

Cleveland H. Dodge 1,000 

W. Lanman Bull 1,000 

Henry M. Taber 1,000 

Alfred S. Heidelbach 1,000 

Matthew H. Beers 1,000 

John Gibb 1,000 

John Cartledge 1,000 

Hicks Arnold 1,000 

Malcolm Graham 1,000 

Henry R. Ickelheimee 1,000 

Seth M. Milliken 1,000 

William F. King 1,000 

George H. Coutts 1,000 

Charles Mali 1,000 

John H. Wood 1,000 

Stephen A. Ginna -. 1,000 

Louis Ettlinger 1,000 

William J. Walter 1,000 

George B. Hurd 1,000 

Thomas Achelis 1,000 

Alfred R. Whitney 1,000 

Andrew J. Robinson 1,000 

Henry B. Barnes 1,000 

John B. Manning 1,000 

James Talcott 1,000 

Joseph C. Hoagland 1,000 

Andrew M. Underhill 1,000 

Bernard G. Gunther 1,000 

Franklin L. Gunther 1,000 

John Downey 1, 000 



25 



John R. Downey $1,000 

Henry H. Cook 1,000 

Frank Tilford 1,000 

Welcome Gt, Hitchcock 1 ,000 

James B. M. Grosvenor 1,000 

Emanuel Lehman 1,000 

Mayer Lehman 1,000 

Anton A. Raven 1,000 

Louis F. Dommerich 1,000 

James D. Layng 1,000 

Edwin Maynard 1,000 

Heber R. Bishop l,oriO 

John T. Agnew 1,000 

GrARDiNp:R K. Clark, Jr 1,000 

Joseph Fahys 1,000 

Arthur A. Anderson 1,000 

Charles T. Cook 1,000 

William H. Hume 1,000 

Edward E. Poor 1,000 

Stephen W. Caeey 1,000 

James B. Baker 1,000 

Stewart Hartshorn 1,000 

Donald Mackay 1,000 

William Schall, Jr 1,000 

Albert R. Shattuck 1,000 

Otis Brothers & Co 1,000 

William Rhinelander Stewart. . . 1,000 

James W. Cromwell 1,000 

Carl Muller 1,000 

GrEORGE WiLSON 1.000 

Clarence Whitman 1,000 

Francis E. Dodge 1,000 

Homer Heminway 1,000 

James Hedges 1,000 

Eugene Gr. Blackford 1,000 

Benjamin Stern 1,000 

D. H. Houghtaling 1,000 



26 



Charles G. Emery $1,000 

Aaron Carter, Jr 1,000 

Archibald D. Russell 1,000 

Edward F. C. Young 1,000 

Alfred M. Hoyt 1,000 

Henry Talmadge 1,000 

Charles F. Dieterich 1,000 

GrEORGE S. BOWDOIN 1,000 

Frank A. Ferris 1,000 

Edward E. Bacon 1,000 

Edwin J. Berwind 1,000 

John P. Duncan 1,000 

George Mosle 1,000 

Jacques Huber 1,000 

George F. Perkins 1,000 

Adolf Kuttroff 1,000 

Peter Donald 1,000 

Robert Schwarzenbach 1,000 

Bird S. Coler 1,000 

Charles F. Brooker 1,000 

Henry Goldman 1,000 

Amzi L. Barber 1,000 

Samuel Bancroft, Jr 1,000 

Henry Budge 1,000 

Henry H. Benedict 1,000 

William F. Buckley 1,000 

Julio F. Sorzano 1,000 

James Pyle & Sons 1,000 

William Bayard Cutting 1,000 

Percival Knauth 1,000 

Robert Hoe 1,000 

Samuel Sachs 1,000 

Charles McLoughlin 1,000 

LuDWiG Dreyfuss 1,000 

Harvey Edward Fisk 1,000 

Eliphalet W. Bliss 1,000 

William Salomon 1,000 



27 



Clarence W. Seamans $1,000 

Charles R. Henderson 1,000 

Edward Holbrook 1,000 

EvvALD Fleitmann 1,000 

SAMUJiL W. Bowne 1,000 

Charles Sternbach 1,000 

Henry Clews 1,000 

Richard H. Laimbeer 1 ,000 

Anson W. Hard 1,000 

Walter G Oakman 1,000 

GusTAV E. Kissel 3 ,000 

Alfred Kessler 1,000 

George Gray Ward 1,000 

Eugene Kelly 1,000 

Cord Meyer 1,000 

CoRCELLUs H. Hackett 1,000 

John S. Lyle 1,000 

Charles Hathaway 1,000 

Charles B. Webster 1,000 

William A. Read 1,000 

William Lummis 1,000 

Francis S. Smithers 1,000 

Harris C. Fahnestock 1,000 

James A. Garland 1,000 

George F. Baker 1,000 

Charles T. Barney 1,000 

R. Fulton Cutting 1,000 

Fritz Achelis 1,000 

Lowell M. Palmer 1,000 

Francis D. Lecompte 1,000 

Robert Dunlap 1,000 

John W. Aitkin 1,000 

William Halls, Jr 1,000 

Max Nathan 1,000 

William Ryle & Co 1,000 

Gurdon B. Horton 1,000 

Frederick Humphreys 1,000 



28 



GusTAV A. Jahk $1,000 

RoBEET M. Thompson 1,000 

John McKesson 1,000 

Henry A. Rogees 1,000 

LisPENARD Stewart 1,000 

Henry C. Hulbeet 1,000 

Edwaed a. Wickes 1,000 

Fredeeic Ceomwell 1,000 

Charles F. Hoffman, Jr 1,000 

Albert Gr. Ropes 1,000 

Eugene Aenstein 1,000 

Aethijr W. Sopee 1,000 

James Gr. White 1,000 

William D. Muephy 1,000 

Chandlee N. Wayland 1,000 

CuYLER, Morgan & Co 1,000 

Robert B. Woodward 1,000 

Henry 0. Havemeyer 1,000 

RoBEET Olyphant 1,000 

Marcellus Haetley 1,000 

A. Augustus Healy 1,000 

Gustav Amsinck 1,000 

James N. Jaevie 1,000 

Geoege H. Peentiss 1,000 

J. Heney Deeves 600 

Max Feeund 500 

Laueence J. Callanan 500 

William Augustus White 500 

Heney A. Landgeaff 500 

Feederic a. Paesons 500 

Geoege H. Southaed 600 

Kalman Haas 500 

Albeet F. Hochstadter 500 

John D. Probst 600 

Gustav J. Wetzlar 600 

Schuyler L. Parsons 500 

Horace S. Ely 500 



29 



Henry Evans $500 

John T. Willets 500 

George E. Weed 500 

Leopold Stern 500 

John F. Praeger 500 

SiGOURNEY W. Fay 500 

Ernest L. Allen 500 

J. Lawrence MoKeever 500 

J. Edward Simmons 500 

Jacob Langeloth 500 

Francis C. Moore 500 

William H. Jackson 500 

Adolpii Boskowitz 500 

Martin Joost 500 

Waldemar Caspary 500 

Henry P. Wertheim 500 

Dick S. Ramsay 500 

Stevenson Taylor 500 

Rowland A. Bobbins 500 

Ferdinand M. Thieriot 500 

George L. Jewett 500 

James G. Johnson 500 

Rudolph Keppler 500 

Henry F. Noyes 500 

Cornelius D. Wood 500 

Ebenezer S. Mason 500 

George Legg 500 

Hiram H. Lamport 500 

William G. Hoople 500 

John B. Roach 500 

Otto G. Mayer 500 

Barstow Drake-Smith 500 

Harmon W. Hendricks 500 

Herbert L. Griggs 500 

Leander N. Lovell 500 

Frederick S. Pinkus 500 

Scott Foster 500 



30 



Fredeeic C. Wagnee 

Louis Windmullee 600 

Gael von Pustau 500 

Aeistides Martinez 500 

Clement A. G-eiscom 500 

Geoege S. Hickok 500 

John I. Waterbuey 500 

John S. Tilnet 500 

Joseph J. O'Donohue 500 

Joseph S. Stout 500 

Samuel H. Seaman 500 

Geoege Milmine 500 

John B. Dutchee 600 

GusTAV Falk 600 

William N. Colee, Jr 500 

Orlando M. Haepee 500 

Charles Malloey 600 

Henry W. Maxwell 500 

Frederick W. Devoe 500 

George De Foeest Baeton 500 

Geoege R. Sheldon 600 

James D. Perkins 500 

Robert J. Kimball 500 

John J. Sinclair 600 

S. Charles Welsh 500 

George W. Quintard 500 

Seth E. Thomas 500 

David M. Morrison 500 

Theodore B. Starr 500 

The J. L. Mott Iron Works 500 

Passavant & Co 500 

Cornelius A. Pugsley 500 

Charles L. B ausher 500 

G'eoege B. Hopkins 500 

Thomas R. Ball 500 

Feancis R. Appleton 500 

Jonathan Thoene 600 



31 



William Rowland $500 

Arthur E. White 500 

Richard Young 500 

Alfred H. Smith 500 

Nicholas F. Palmer 500 

Charles A, O'Donohue 500 

Frederick T. Adams 500 

Cyrus J. Lawrence 500 

William H. T. Hughes 500 

Charles W. Carpenter 500 

Edwin Packard 500 

William T. Evans 500 

A. Foster Higgins 500 

J. Henry Lane 500 

William F. Havemeyer 500 

James A. Macdonald 500 

Francis L. Hine 500 

Henry Steers 500 

John U. Fraley 500 

Alfred Romer 500 

William Brookfield 500 

Adolph B. Ansbacher 500 

B. Frank Hooper 500 

Solomon Stein 500 

Brayton Ives — 500 

C. Edward Billqvist 500 

Henry D. Babcock £00 

Arthur Curtiss James 500 

John Monks 500 

Franklin Quinby 500 

F. Wolcott Jackson 500 

Dorman T. Warren £00 

George H. Robinson 500 

Frederick H. Von Stade 500 

William R. Peters 500 

Henry C. Berlin 500 

John Sinclair 500 



32 



Eugene Higgins $500 

Charles W. Ide 500 

Robert C. Ogden^ 500 

Henky S. Manning 500 

Edward B arr 350 

James M. Fitzgerald 300 

Walter W. Naumburg 300 

John H. Jacquelin 300 

Thomas P. Ball 300 

Lucius A. Cole 300 

Walter L. Wellington 300 

Silas D. Webb 300 

Carl Brucker 300 

Charles Scribner 300 

Herman C. Hoskier 250 

Robert R, Willets 250 

Aaron Naumburg 250 

Frank R. Chambers 250 

Silas A. Ilslet 250 

Hermann Schaeffer 250 

Charles H. Fanoher 250 

Henry A. Glassford 250 

Alfred E. Marling 250 

Jacob W. Mack 250 

Calvin B. Orcutt 250 

Charles T. Geyer 250 

Adolph Wimpfheimer 250 

George McNeir 250 

Elbert A. Brinokerhoff 250 

Shepard Rowland 250 

AuGUSTE J. Cordier 250 

Howard P. Frothingham 250 

J. SiNCLAR Armstrong 250 

Henry Yan Bergen Nash 250 

Calvin Tomkins 250 

Charles M. Englis 250 

Frederick B. Schenok 250 



33 



Isaac Wallach $250 

Heney C. Wakd 250 

GeOKGE RuTLEDGE GrIBSON 250 

Horace See 250 

FiiANCis Sedgwick Bangs. 250 

Walter S. Johnston 250 

Charles H. Coffin 250 

Edward C. Hoyt 250 

William A. Ross 250 

S. Phillips Mendell. . .- 250 

Francis B. Thueber 250 

Isaiah Josephi 250 

Samuel T. Peters 250 

Richard H. Williams 250 

George M. Coit 250 

Richard Butler 250 

George F. Hodgman 250 

Paul F. Gerhard 250 

Lewis Nixon 250 

Oswald Sanderson 250 

Martin F. Fechheimer 250 

Solomon B. Solomon 250 

William J. Schieffelin 250 

Perry P. VVilliams 250 

John S. Huyler 250 

Alonzo Slote 250 

James E. Reynolds 260 

Henry A. McGee 250 

Henry C. Meyer 250 

George L. Putnam 250 

Augustus F. Libby 250 

Charles H. Steinway 250 

Edward M. Brown 250 

Samuel T. Hubbard 250 

Edward F. Milliken 250 

G. Waldo Smith , 250 

George C. Rand 250 



34 



David B. Deaeboet^ $250 

Geoege p. Stockwell 250 

William 0. Fayeeweathee 250 

Heney p. Faiebanks 250 

Malcolm Geaham, Jr 2^0 

Lucien C Wartstee 250 

William Haekness 250 

Heney C. Swoeds 250 

James McCutcheon 250 

Clement A. Geiscom, Jr 250 

David S. Cowles 250 

John A. Walkee 250 

W. Edwin Thoep 250 

James B. Dickson *. . 250 

Heemann H. Cammann 250 

Heney P. Baetlet ' 250 

f. noeton goddaed .' 250 

Chaeles D. Leveeich 250 

Stephen Loines 250 

Feank S. Witheebee 250 

Edwaed V. LoEW 250 

James McGoveen 250 

Heney Rice 250 

Chaeles S. Faiechild 250 

Heney Amy 250 

Elias Spingaen 250 

William H. Andeews 200 

Jacob D. T. Heesey 200 

Daniel F. Cooney 200 

Enos Wildee 200 

Charles L. Rickeeson 200 

William T. Waedwell 200 

Eugene H. Conklin 200 

Ernest R. Ackerman 200 

Heney D. Lyman 200 

George W. Naumburg 200 

Everett Feazae 1 50 



35 



Henry J. Lamarche $100 

Herbert P. Campbell 100 

Charles H. Simmons 100 

Maturin L. Delafield, Jr 100 

John A. Kunkel 100 

Franklin Allen 100 

Frederic W. Pickard 100 

Richard L. Edwards 100 

Edward I. Horsman 100 

O. Egerton Schmidt 100 

Ethan Allen Doty 100 

Herman A. Metz 100 

Stewart L. Woodford 100 

Andrew Stuart Patterson 100 

J. Montgomery Hare 100 

William H. Douglas 100 

J. Henry Haggerty 100 

William M. Cole 100 

William G. Conklin 100 

David B. Sickels 100 

Hiram Hitchcock 100 

William B. Hilton 100 

Walte;r R. T. Jones 100 

Henky a. Spaulding 100 

GuRDON Gr. Brinckerhoff 100 

Charles A. Hull 100 

Oliver J. Geer 100 

William Hillman 100 

Charles H. Boyer 100 

A. C. Van Gaasbeek 100 

James A. Wright 100 

Robert W. Gibson 100 

Schuyler S, Wheeler 100 

Acosta Nicols 100 

Edwin M. Bulkley 100 

Royal C. Peabody 100 

Charles J. Peabody 100 



36 

G-ATES W. McGaerah $100 

Henry C. Beewstee 100 

Claeence Caey 100 

ClaeejStce W. Bowek 100 

Lucius K. Wilmeeding 100 

William Bebri 100 

Marshall S. Driggs 100 

Henry Dalley 100 

Edward F. Beddall 100 

Colgate Hoyt 100 

Timothy L. Woodruff 100 

William McCaeroll , 100 

Mr. Ore. — I respectfully move the adoption of the 
report and resolution, and when the vote be taken, that 
the expression of the Chamber may be illustrated by a 
rising vote. 

The President. — Gentlemen, those who are in favor 
of the adoption of the report and resolution presented 
by Mr. Ore, will signify their assent by rising. 

The report and resolution are unanimously adopted. 

MepoH of the Siiecial Committee on Taxation. 

Mr. George F. Seward, Chairman of the Special 
Committee appointed at the regular meeting of the 
Chamber, on the 1st of February last, to consider the 
Stranahan Tax Bill, pending in the Legislature, and 
whose report was to be acted upon at this meeting, said 
that as the Bill has failed to receive support in the 
Legislature, the Committee thought' it well to ask only 
that the report be placed on tile and that the Committee 
be discharged. 

The report of the Committee is as follows : 

To the Chamber of Commerce : 
Your Committee on the Bill now pending in the 




GEORGE F. SEWARD, 

Chairman of the Sper-ial Committee on Taxation. 



37 

Legislature of this State, entitled "An Act to provide 
adequate revenue for the support of the State Govern- 
ment otherwise than by direct taxation of the assessed 
valuations of real and personal property, and for a 
more equitable distribution of the burdens of taxation," 
reports as follows : 

The Bill provides for taxation under three heads, as 
follows : 

First. Moneyed capital in the hands of individual 
citizens. 

Second. Shares of stock of banks, banking associa- 
tions and trust companies, including national banks. 

Third. Mortgages. 

A notable feature of the Bill is that the taxes col- 
lected from the subjects of taxation mentioned under 
the second and third heads are to inure to the State, 
and that no part of them are to inure to any County or 
other division or interest within the State, and that no 
taxes are to be levied on banks or trust companies or on 
mortgages otherwise than as provided in the Bill, ex- 
cepting on real estate owned by banks and trust com- 
panies. Such real estate will be taxed separately for 
local purposes, but its value will be deducted in asses- 
sing shares of stock. Thus a special field of taxation 
is to be set aside for the exclusive benefit of the State, 
Just as the ISTational Grovernment has a field of its own. 
Whether this is desirable in the public interest must be 
open to question. If the State may pursue such policy 
it may draw to itself revenues from those taxables which 
are most easily reached, and leave the greater burden of 
taxation for County and other local interests to be borne 
by those taxables which ai-e less easily reached. And 



38 

if the State takes from a few subjects of taxation all or 
a large part of its revenue, the burden of State taxation 
will not be felt by all interests alike, and there will be 
less watchfulness of State expenditures. 

The Bill departs broadly in this way from the 
practice of the past, and it departs also in a very 
notable manner from a principle which has been de- 
clared by the State from the very beginning of its 
existence — the principle of equal taxation. This 
principle, laid down by early publicists, notably by 
Adam Smith, and by the whole line of writers since his 
day, has been observed in this State in large measure, 
and has been followed in all other States in the main. 
The departures from this rule proposed by the Bill may 
be stated as follows : 

Money invested in mortgages is moneyed capital, just 
as money invested in bank stock or trust company 
stock is moneyed capital, and there is no reason mani- 
fest why any inequality should be proposed, yet the 
Bill contains a proposal to tax the stocks mentioned one 
per cent., while mortgages are to be taxed one-half of 
one per cent. 

Again, property in such stocks and in mortgages is to 
be taxed one per cent, and one-half of one per cent, respec- 
tively, while other property, real and personal, is subject 
to taxation, running up in some cases to two and one-half 
per cent., depending upon the demands of local interests. 

Again, at present, personal property is taxed for the 
margin which the owner holds ; his assets in personal 
property are counted on one side and his debts on the 
other, and the balance is subject to taxation. If this 
rule has been right in the past it should be right now. 
The Bill at Albany allows no exemption for debts, and 
so the man who owns personalty which is invested in 
bank stock or trust company stock or mortgages, and 



39 

has obligations outstanding against such property or 
otherwise, will be taxed as respects such holdings as 
highly as the man whose holdings are free and clear. 
But against personal property, not moneyed capital, the 
old allowances for debts will stand. 

Again, the rule of taxation has been to impose taxes 
at the residence of the owner of property. Other States 
generally follow the same rule. So it may happen that 
an owner living in New- York may pay the stock or 
mortgage tax and go free otherwise, while the resident 
of another State must pay in his Own State the usual 
taxes on his personal estate, and must pay in New- York 
taxes on his investments in New- York in the directions 
named. The subject of a foreign State would also pay 
at home and pay in New- York. This would cause 
inequality and it would cause also hesitation on the 
part of persons not citizens to make investments in this 
State on the lines indicated. 

Again, money is not limited to mortgage investments, 
neither is the interest on money determined by State 
boundaries. No one will lend money on mortgage un- 
less the borrower agrees to pay the tax directly, or 
indirectly by an increased interest rate. The Bill does 
not in terms release real estate, mortgaged or unmort- 
gaged, from the State tax. The result will be that real 
estate will bear the usual local burden, any current State 
burden, and in addition and without deduction such 
taxation as this Bill proposes on the amount of any 
mortgage upon it. The result is as certain as that water 
not confined will find its own level. In other words, the 
Bill drawn ostensibly to make lighter the taxation of 
real estate, will add to it seriously. It will also create 
a further inequality as between mortgaged and free 
property. 

Again, without entering upon the question whether 
the provisions of law exempting from taxation mort- 
gages held by life insurance companies, savings banks, 



40 

and building and loan associations are right or not, 
further than to say that these exemptions have stood 
long and must have been allowed for reasons which have 
seemed good, it may be pointed out that owners of 
mortgages will be taxed on all unexpired mortgages, 
while new mortgages will go exempt because of the 
shifting of the incidence of the tax to the property mort- 
gaged. From ten to fifteen per cent, of the income from 
current mortgages will be taken in this way. And when 
the periods of existing mortgages end, all will have to 
be called and made anew, if the investments are to be 
continued, at much cost in time and money. 

Whether or no corporations which are borrowers, as, 
for instance, railway ,s, street railways, gas companies, 
etc., will make any effort to shift the tax back to the 
holder of bonds issued under mortgages given generally 
for long periods, must be considered doubtful. Such 
corporations, in the terms of the Bill as proposed, will 
have the right to do this. Presumably they will not 
attempt to shift the burden. Considering now that such 
corporations have already been declared subject to a 
franchise tax under the so-called Fokd Bill, passed last 
winter, it may well be imagined that very extraordinary 
burdens will be placed by the two new systems of tax- 
ation on these interests. 

There are constitutional questions involved which 
cannot be properly treated of in this report. These run 
to the substance of the Bill, so far as the taxation of 
citizens of other States and countries is involved, and 
also to sundry details of the Bill affecting methods of 
collecting the new taxes. As respects these constitu- 
tional questions it may be said that it is a pity that they 
cannot be resolved so far as possible before the Bill be- 
comes- a law. 

There are also practical issues involved which need 
study. Certain provisions in regard to mortgages will 
add enormously to the trouble of executing them, and 



41 

others will detract seriously from the security. These 
provisions have been made with an eye single to the 
collection of the tax, and, perhaps, without right con- 
sideration of the results as between owners and mort- 
gagees. As an instance it may be mentioned that 
mortgaged property might be sold under process of law 
without notice of the proceedings reaching the owner of 
the mortgage. 

Another practical issue is this. In order to secure 
collection of the taxes on the stocks mentioned in the 
Bill, inquisitorial proceedings are to be authorized. For 
instance, it is specifically provided that the State Board 
of Tax Commissioners " shall have power personally, or 
by duly authorized deputy or agent, to examine the 
records, books and papers of all such banks for the 
purpose of testing any written report or information 
furnished to them." If this is a power necessary to the 
enforcement of the Act, it is still one which is liable to 
grave abuses. That it is not necessary is indicated by 
the fact that there is a State banking department which 
is qualified to pass upon the condition of banks, etc., 
which does do so, and which presumably may be relied 
upon to state right conclusions. 

Still another practical issue is this. Under the mort- 
gage title it is proposed that a lien shall attach to all 
mortgaged property to secure payment of the tax due 
from the owner of the mortgage, or any bond, note, 
coupon or other paper writing evidencing a debt or ob- 
ligation so secured. Such bonds with coupons in some 
cases are sold in the market and passed from hand to 
hand without registry. They are taxable as the 
property of the holder, but the corporation which has 
issued them can have no knowledge by whom they are 
held, and, under the law, must perforce pay off the lien 
and bear the burden with such chance of recompensing 
itself as the circumstances permit. 

Again, manifestly the enforcement of the law will re- 



42 

quire a large staff and occasion heavy expense. Tliis 
will be a burden outside of the present burden for tax 
administration, and will add just so much to the ex- 
pense to be met from taxation. It is said that the cost 
of collecting the tax on mortgages in California is not 
less than $500,000 a year. 

We come now to deal with the provision of the first 
heading, or division of the law. This division is brief, 
and may be quoted entirely : 

"Section 10. Save as provided in this Act, nionied 
capital in the hands of individual citizens of this State 
shall be taxed annually by the authorities of the city 
or town in which such individual citizens reside respect- 
ively at the rate of one per centum of the value thereof 
and no more, and the owner thereof shall not be allowed 
any deduction for debt." 

It is notable that nowhere in this Bill, nor in the 
report of the Committee which accompanies it, is any 
definition given of the term " monied capital." Pre- 
sumably the local assessors must construe the term 
until the courts shall have done so. The absence of a 
definition suggests the complications which will ensue. 

It is notable again that a rule is made in the proposed 
law which prohibits any deduction for debts owing on 
such moneyed capital or the paper evidence of it. In 
the case of real estate no exemption for debt is allowed. 
If it were allowed, the exemption would so far free real 
estate from taxation, unless the mortgage were taxed, 
and if the mortgage were taxed the incidence of the tax 
would fall upon the real estate, and, therefore, the real 
estate might as well pay in the beginning. In the case 
of personalty, the deduction for debt has always been 
allowed, and will still be allowed saving as respects 
moneyed capital. Moneyed capital is personalty, and 
there will be two rules of taxation for personalty both 



43 

as to rate of taxation and as to exemption for debt. 
If this does not bring about "confusion worse con- 
founded" it would be difficult to imagine what would 
do so. 

It will be manifest from this report that a Bill which 
is so far reaching in its proposals, which is so uncertain 
as to its results, and which so far departs from existing 
standards of taxation, should not be hurried to enact- 
ment, that full time should be given for its study by all 
interests and full hearings allowed with the greatest 
publicity. 

Your Committee is of opinion further that very great 
inequality in taxation exists under present laws, that 
these should be cured and the tax laws generally should 
be so revised as to secure a simple, comprehensive and 
effective system of taxation. It is not by any means a 
difficult matter to devise such a system, although it will 
be diflficult to secure its enactment. The creation of an 
ideal scheme of taxation, however, is an object in itself, 
because it creates a standard toward which the State 
may work. The State, so long ago as 1871, appointed a 
commission of expeits that reported such a scheme. 
This may be measurably out of date by reason of 
changed conditions. It should be made the basis of 
further study with reference to these changes. 

Your Committee offers these resolutions for the con- 
sideration of the Chamber : 

Hesolved, That the Chamber of Commerce believes 
that no effort should be made to pass the revenue meas- 
ure known as the Steaicahan Bill at this session, and 
that it should be referred to a Joint Committee of the 
two Houses of the Legislature, with instructions to 
report at the next session on the whole existing scheme 
of taxation with saggestions for its improvement ; and 

Besolned, That the Secretary of this Chamber is re- 
quested to communicate to the Honorable the Governor, 



44 

and to the Honorable each, member of the two Houses 
of the Legislature, a copy of this report and of these 
resolutions. 

(Signed,) Gteo. F. Sewaed, 1 

Chas. S. Faiechild, I „*«<^i$^ 

' ( Committee. 

J. Haesen Rhoades, j 

New-Yoek, February 2UJi, 1900. 

ISToTE. — While your Committee has avoided in the 
foregoing report the making of any suggestions regard- 
ing a general scheme of taxation, the so-called Strana- 
HAisr Bill directly suggests a reform of a far-reaching 
character which might well be made the subject of an 
independent Bill to be acted upon at the present session. 
We refer to the lifting of all taxation from mortgages. 
The considerations involved are as follows : 

In New- York to-day mortgages are liable to taxation 
as personalty. By reason of existing exemptions and 
failures of administration very nearly all mortgages 
escape taxation. Notwithstanding these exemptions 
and failures, the interest rate on mortgages is higher 
than it would be if no tax whatever were in view. 
Perhaps an average rate of interest on mortgages 
throughout the State is 4^ per cent. 

There is no reason apparent why the interest rate on 
first-class mortgages should exceed that on high grade 
securities at large. State, municipal or other. In Mas- 
sachusetts, in the absence of any tax, the interest rate 
on mortgages is said to have fallen to B^ per cent. It 
seems reasonable to believe that if the tax were removed 
the rate of interest would fall to the same point in this 
State. 

On the other hand, any tax on mortgages raises the 
interest rate above the normal more than the amount of 
the tax. The tax must be collected by methods which 
are vexatious as well as expensive. So it happens that 
in California, where a far better devised and more just 



45 

taxation scheme for mortgage exists than the one pro- 
posed here, the interest rate is said to be enhanced at 
least fifty per cent, more than the amount of the tax. 

The Joint Committee at Albany that proposed the 
Steanahan Bill for the purpose, as they declare in the 
report, of relieving real estate, ^ould welcome this sug- 
gestion. Their bill will not effect their declared pur- 
pose. The adoption of this suggestion would effect a 
reduction of the interest rate. The people would get 
the benefit of this and the benefit also of the withdrawal 
of such taxes as are now paid on mortgages. On the 
other hand, the loss of the small sum now received by 
the State from the tax on money invested in mortgages 
would not be felt. The expected income from the fran- 
chise tax bill would far more than fill the gap. 

The suggestion thus made by your Committee follows 
practical lines, and it conforms to sound economical 
principles. No tax should be laid indirectly which can 
be levied directly. The indirect process is expensive and 
vexatious. Under the Steanahan Bill the mortgage 
tax would be double taxation in effect. Moreover it is 
property which should be taxed always, not the evi 
dence of debt in the property. When the latter is 
taxed double taxation is practically inevitable. 

Another separate Bill, which might be properly intro- 
duced at Albany, would be one equalizing taxation 
between Banks and Trust Companies. The Banks now 
pay a very large part of all the personalty tax collected 
in the State outside New- York City. The injustice of 
this is evident. As to what the rate should be your 
Committee offers no suggestion. The rate proposed in 
the Steanahan Bill is two and a half times as much as 
the rate in Pennsylvania. 

G. F. S. 

C. S. F. 

J. H. R. 

The report accordingly was ordered to be placed on 
file and the Committee discharged. 



46 



Speech of Mr, Alexander E. Orr, President of the Sapid 
Transit Railroad Cotninission—The Signing of the 
Contract for the Construction of the Underground 
Hapid Transit Railroad. 

Me. President and Gentlemen or the Chamber 
OF Commerce : On the 24th day of February, 1900, a 
contract was signed between the Rapid Transit Railroad 
Commission, on behalf of the City of New- York, of the 
first part, and John B. McDonald, contractor, of the 
second part. The sum involved was $36,500,000, and 
the obligation of the contractor is to construct, equip 
and operate for a term of fifty years as the tenant of 
the City, and at a rent provided for in the contract, a 
rapid transit railroad, upon routes designated by and 
under plans and specifications prepared by the Rapid 
Transit Commission. 

The road is to begin at the City Hall Park and to run 
northwardly under various streets and avenues to the 
corner of 104th Street and the Boulevard, where it 
divides into two sections, one keeping to the westerly 
side of the City and terminating at Kingsbridge, and 
the other running northeastwardly to the Harlem River, 
under which it passes, and thence in a northerly direc- 
tion to Bronx Park. Its total length will be about 
twenty-one miles, it will have four tracks to 104th 
Street, and two tracks on each of the sections described 
above. It will be of tunnel construction, except at the 
upper portion of each section, where, for a short dis- 
tance, it will be carried upon a viaduct. It will be 
operated under one management, but upon two systems, 
the one for local and tbe other for express service, the 
average speed of the former, including stops, is esti- 
mated at from fourteen to fifteen, and of the latter 
thirty miles per hour. The rate of fare for one con- 
tinuous trip on any part of the line is not to exceed five 
cents, and it is expected that, excluding unforeseen 




■0 

c 

«) O 

-c cr 



C -O 

o o 

OS t- 



§"2 

t^ 



c h 
« 

If! 



47 

accidents or delays, the road will be completed in four 
years from this date. 

It will be, when completed, the most comprehensive, 
the most rapid and the cheapest system of civic transit 
that has yet been devised in this country or any city of 
the old world, and it will be the key to a system of 
rapid transit that, when fully developed, as it surely 
will be, will bring into close contact every section of 
Greater New-York. It is impossible to estimate the 
growth and development that will follow the installa- 
tion of this system of rapid transit or the benefit that 
the possession of the franchise of this road will be to 
New-York at the termination of the present lease, but 
this Ave do know, that in things American, the most 
sanguine expectations are far surpassed in the realiza- 
tion, and that if we continue true to ourselves as a 
people, the timepiece of our development has not yet 
struck one. 

I am led to make these remarks, for the reason that 
the Chamber of Commerce is to be credited with the 
inauguration of this system of rapid transit under 
Municipal ownership, while the brilliancy of the mind 
that first suggested and fashioned it into serviceable 
purpose, belongs to one of our most illustrious mem- 
bers. [Applause.] 

The Honorable Abram S. Hewitt, Originator of the 

Scheme. 

In brief, the history is this. In 1888, Abeam S. 
Hewitt, then Mayor of New- York, in his annual 
message, called the attention of the Board of Aldermen 
to tke pressing need of real rapid transt, and earnestly 
advocated Municipal construction as the only means of 
obtaining it effectively. The Board of Aldermen gave 
little heed to his suggestion, and after granting a few 
hearings to the people, at which a Committee of this 



48 

Chamber appeared in advocacy, they dropped the 
further consideration of the subject. Nothing daunted, 
however, Mr. Hewitt prepared a Bill illustrative of his 
views, and had it introduced at Albany. It was re- 
ferred to the Committee on Cities, and there it was 
smothered, for it never got back to the Legislature, and 
no results followed. In 1891, another effort was made, 
but on different lines than those advocated by Mr. 
Hewitt. An Act was passed which created a Rapid 
Transit Commission, with power to lay out routes, adopt 
methods of construction, etc., and offer the franchise in 
perpetuity at public auction, to private enterprise. But 
private capital was timid and could not be tempted with 
even the promise of perpetual ownership, and the result 
was a failure. 

It was then that this Chamber, in 1894, recognizing 
the danger of further delay to the commercial interests 
of the City, appointed a Committee to investigate and 
report upon the rapid transit situation, and it was then 
that the transcendant genius and foresight of Mr. 
Hewitt, and the benefits of the previous study he had 
given to the whole question, came into full play. By 
direction of the Chamber, and under his skillful guid- 
ance, and assisted by Henry R. Beekmaist, now Mr. 
Justice Beekman, as Counsel, the Committee prepared 
amendments to the Act of 1891, and backed by the 
influence and confidence that the Chamber enjoys, had 
them introduced into the Legislature, and they were 
finally enacted into law. Briefly stated, the main fea- 
tures of the amendments are these : A new Commission 
was created composed of eight members, five of whom 
were named in the Bill (all being members of this 
Chamber) and three were ex-offi,cio^ (viz.,) the Mayor, 
the Comptroller and the President of the Chamber of 
Commerce. The Commission was authorized to lay out 
routes, prepare plans and specifications, and select 
motive power, etc. This being done, the right to con- 




PHOT. Br ROCKWOOO 



ARTOTYPE, E, BIER8TA0T 



ABRAM S. HEWITT, 

Vice President, of the Chamber of Commeree. 



49 



struct was vested in the City, provided, after open com- 
petition, an acceptable lessee was found who would 
agree, for a certain lixed sum, to construct, equip and 
operate the road for a period not less than thirty-five 
or more than fifty years, paying as rent tlie interest on 
the bonds to be issued by the City for construction pur- 
poses, and a furtlier annual sum of not less than one 
per cent, towards the creation of a sinking fund from 
which the bonds are to be paid at maturity, the lessee 
meanwhile giving security satisfactory to the Commis- 
sion for the full performance of his contract and lease- 
hold obligations. The entire credit of inventing these 
provisions belongs to Mr. Hewitt, and the more criti- 
cally they are examined the more remarkably advan- 
tageous to all parties in interest they appear. The City 
under them retains its valuable franchise, and at the 
end of the lease will own the road and hold possession 
of the key to the rapid transit situation absolutely, 
without the expenditure of a single dollar for construc- 
tion or interest ; meanwhile the growth of the City is 
assured and its revenue producing power increased, and 
because of its supt^rior credit which, for the time being, 
it virtually lends, under carefully guarded guarantees, 
to the lessee, the rent is so reduced as to make it pos- 
sible for responsible and conservative men to become in- 
terested in the contract. 

Mr. Hewitt, because of increasing years and im- 
paired health, declined to serve upon the Commission, 
but it has always received his warm sympathy and the 
benefit of his wise counsel. He also served on the 
Board of Experts appointed by the Commission to pass 
upon the methods of construction, plans, specifications 
and estimates of its Chief Engineer, giving to this work 
many weeks of valuable time, but refusing to receive 
the honorarium awarded to each member of the Board 
for that service. 

Such is the enterprise that this Chamber has advo- 



60 

cated, and which, under the inspiration of Mr. Hewitt's 
genius and foresight, is in process of being carried out. 
It is iitting and proper, therefore, that this Chamber 
should now give prominent expression of its high ap- 
preciation of Mr. Hewitt's services in the cause of real 
rapid transit for the City of New- York and of the suc- 
cessful outcome of his persistent advocacy of Municipal 
ownership. 

Mr. Hewitt's long and honorable life has always 
been prominent, whether in the Halls of Congress, in 
our Civic Government, or in private enterprise. The 
records of this Chamber sparkle all throughout with his 
brilliant speeches and reports in furthering the best 
interests of this countrj^ and its commercial metropolis, 
but I cannot help believing that his splendid services in 
the cause of Municipal rapid transit is the crowning act 
of his life, and will perpetuate his memory and render 
New- York his debtor as long as the City shall exist. 
[Applause.] 

• A Gold Medal to he Presented to Mr, Hewitt. 

The following resolutions are respectfully offei"ed for 
the consideration of the Chamber : 

Mesolved, That a gold medal be struck in recognition 
of the eminent services of the Honorable Abeam S. 
Hewitt in the cause of Civic Rapid Transit under Muni- 
cipal ownership, and that it be presented to him by the 
President, with assurances of the admiration, respect 
and affectionate regard of his fellow members of the 
Chamber of Commerce of the State of New- York. 
[Ai^plause.] 

Mesol'toed, That a Committee of five be appointed by 
the President, of whom the President shall be Chairman, 
to carry out the provisions of the foregoing resolution. 

[Applause.] 



51 



Si>eech of Mr, Charles S. StHith, 

Mk. President : I regard it as a privilege to second, 
with great cordiality, the resolution offered by my 
friend, Mv. Okk During the seven years, sir, in which 
I occupied your chair, it is only just to say, that I was 
under more obligation to Mr. Hewitt than to any other 
member for valuable advice and assistance concerning 
the important subjects that came before the Chamber. 
Mr. Hewitt, as Mr. Our has well said, seldom failed to 
respond to the call of the President of the Chamber in the 
matters of drafting reports and resolutions, and we all 
know that his voice in the Chamber never failed to carry 
conviction, because behind the spoken words was the 
character of the man. Lord BEACOiS"^SFiELD, in his fa- 
mous tribute to Cobdex, in the House of Commons, said, 
" There are men who are always members of this House, 
who are independent of the dissolution of Parliament, 
the caprice of constituencies, and the flight of time, and 
such a man, I think, was Richard CobdejS"." You 
wilF agree with me, Mr. President, that we may well 
apply this splendid eulogy of Beaco:n^sfield to the 
services which our good friend, Mr. Hewitt, has ren 
dered to the City, State and Nation, and that they will 
remain for our successors among the most cherished tra- 
ditions of the Chamber. More than fourteen years ago, 
when the leaders of both parties in Congress were trim- 
ming upon the silver question and loading the Treasury 
with millions of silver, bought at exorbitant prices 
through the influence of the owners of silver mines, 
Mr. Hewitt made a great speech in Congress, in which 
he struck the key note for the gold standard, and 
enunciated the ideas which have recently been adopted 
by Congress, and embodied in law. 

I once heard Mr. Hewitt remark, "that he consid- 
ered his life to have been a failure," which I interpreted 
to mean that his highest ideals have not been realized. 



62 

' Mr. Hewitt has never followed the paths nor adopted 
the methods that ordinarily lead to preferment. He 
has never sacrificed principle to expediency. It is 
the man that dares to be ahead of the times that in the 
end leads the times, and Mr. Heavitt is to-day the 
acknowledged leader of the men in this great City who 
value citizenship above partisanship. Whatever may 
be Mr. Hewitt's personal estimate of his life's work, he 
is, in his serene old age, reaping the greatest of all 
earthly rewards in the love and respect of the people 
among whom he has passed his long and useful life. 
[Applause.] 

The resolutions were unanimously adopted. 

Speech of Mr. William, E. Dodge— Thanks of the Chamber 
Tendered to Mr, Orr, 

Mk. Pkesident : This will be a memorable meeting, 
and the Chamber is most fortunate in having brought to 
its notice so many matters of great interest. 

Among those we mention with gratitude we should 
all remember that Mr. Okk, our former President, has 
been not only the Chairman of the Building Committee 
largely responsible for the successful result announced 
to daj^ but he has also for years been the President of 
the Rapid Transit Railroad Commission. [Applause.] 

We have many valued friends to thank to-day and 
much cause to rejoice, but one of these days we must 
have a meeting as a reception for Mr. Oee. [Applause.] 
All that has been said of Mr. Hewitt he, himself, de- 
serves. [Applause.] It is a delightful thing that, in 
this Chamber's membership, we can duplicate men so 
strong and so true to the country and to themselves. 
[Applause.] I move that a vote of thanks be tendered 
by the Chamber to Mr. Ore for his successful and ad 
mirable services as Chairman of the Building Committee. 




TOTYPE, E. BIERSTADT 



WILLIAM E. DODGE, 

Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce. 



63 

The Peesident. — Those in favor of the motion will 
indicate it by a rising vote. The vote is unanimous. 

The President appointed as his associates on the Com- 
mittee, Messrs. 

Alexandee E. Oee, Chaeles S. Smith, 
William E. Dodge, Seth Low. 

A Gold Medal to be Presented to 3Ir. Hugh H. Manna, 
CJiairman of the Executive Committee of the Indian- 
apolis Monetary Convention. 

Mr. JoH]^ Haesen Rhoades, Chairman of the Dele- 
gation to the Indianapolis Monetary Convention, re- 
ported the following preamble and resolution : 

Whereas, It is well that the business men of the 
whole country should act together in all things which 
affect the general welfare ; and 

Whereas, This was done, when in January, 1897, and 
in January, 1898, representatives of the Chambers of 
Commerce and other commercial organizations of our 
country met in the City of Indianapolis, upon the invita- 
tion of the Chambers of Commerce of the Middle West, 
to consider our currency and the legislation needful to 
fit the same to the work of a great business people ; and 

Whereas, It is well known these meetings were the 
result of the wise thought of Hugh H. Hanna, a citi- 
zen of Indianapolis ; and 

Whereas, The recommendations of said Conventions 
were kept before the country and urged upon the Legis- 
lative and Executive branches of the Government by 
the energy and zeal of an Executive Committee, of 
which Mr. Hanna was the head, and to whose work he 



54 

has given the greater part of his time during years, 
with rare tact, unselfish patriotism, and untiring devo- 
tion, thereby setting an example of high citizenship ; 
and 

Whereas, A fundamental part of the plan of the 
Commission of the Indianapolis Convention has now 
become the law of our land ; therefore, 

Resol'oed, That mindful of the good work already 
done, and in the hope that in time it may be made per- 
fect, and that we may show our gratitude to Hugh H. 
Hakna for thus representing the business men of the 
country, the Chamber hereby orders that a gold medal 
be struck in his honor, and presented to him in token 
of our appreciation. [Applause.] 

Mr. Rhoades. — Mr. President, I do not propose at the 
moment to speak further of Mr. Hanna or of what he 
has done, but I would ask the Chair to call upon Mr. 
William E. Dodge — a member of the Delegation — to 
say a few words in regard to the magnificent work he 
has performed in the cause of monetary reform. 

SpeecJi of Mr. Dodge. 

I am sorry, Mr. President, that Mr. Khoades, who 
is the Chairman of the Delegation, has not himself 
spoken, as he could so ably, in regard to the services of 
Mr. Hanka. At this late hour, in this memorable 
meeting, I only venture to say this. All of us who are 
engaged in commercial pursuits remember the dark 
clouds and the heavy shadow hanging over us two years 
ago, the uncertainty that made all financial plans for 
the future almost impossible, the want of any fixed 
standard of value, and the apparent hopeless condition 
of the currency question. The great anxiety felt 



^'^ 



r 




ARTOTYPE, E. BIERSTADT, N, 



JOHN HARSEN RHOADES, 

Chairman of the Committee on Finance and Cuppeney. 



65 

tlirongli the whole country led to the Convention at 
Indianapolis, which was fortunately called by the busi- 
ness men of the Middle West. It was made up of able, 
vigorous, practical men. I have never met a body who 
seemed on the whole to represent the country so fully 
and so admirably. Mr. Hanna was the moving spirit 
in the calling of the Convention, and from its very 
beginning the character and quality of his services im- 
pressed themselves deeply, not only upon the Conven- 
tion as a whole, but upon all of us personally. He took 
hold of this work with intense interest, knowing that 
the country needed rest and certainty with regard to its 
financial operations, and with untiring industry, and 
with an amount of tact and ability which I have never 
seen equalled, he has given substantially his whole life 
to it since that time. It is not too much to say that the 
action of the Committee of which he was Chairman 
modified and changed the financial views of the country, 
and intelligence and wise action took the place of pre- 
judice and partial ignorance. 

The Bill lately passed by Congress with regard to the 
gold standard is the result of this action, and was 
largely due to his untiring efforts. He is a man who is 
very modest, very quiet, absolutely unselfish and thor- 
oughly reliable. He has made an impression upon 
Congress that I have never liuown any single man to 
make ; not only upon Congress, but upon a great body 
of the people. He has had no personal interest, but has 
worked unselfishly for what he believed to be the best 
good of the country. Any community is rich that has 
such men as Abeam S. Hewitt and H. H. Hanna 
among its citizens. [Applause.] 

I feel that in offering a tribute of gratitude to Mr. 
Hanna the Chamber is doing itself honor rather than 
doing honor to him. Mr. Hanna' s place in the finan- 
cial history of this country comes very near to that of 
Alexander Hamilton, who first started our financial 
system in a wise way. When this reception is given I 



56 

trust all the members of the Chamber who can will be 
present, and, with those of the Committee who know 
Mr. Hatstista intimately, and love and respect him so 
highly, will give him the hearty reception which he 
deserves from us and from the country. [Applause.] 

The President. — You have heard the preamble and 
resolution offered by Mr. Rhoades. Are you ready for 
the question ? All those in favor of their adoption 
will signify by saying aye ; contrary, no. 

They are unanimously adopted. 

Mr. Hentz. — Mr. President, regarding the work of 
the Convention, held at Indianapolis, I wish to say 
that the remarks of Mr. Dodge and Mr. Rhoades in 
reference to Mr. Hanna have only faintly portrayed 
the work that he has done, and, therefore, I offer the 
following resolution : 

Hesolved^ That the delegates who represented the 
Chamber at the Indianapolis Monetary Convention be 
a Committee with power to have prepared and to pre- 
sent to Mr. Hanna the medal ordered in the resolution 
offered by Mr. Rhoades. 

The resolution was unanimously adopted. 

The Proposed Uptown Post Office. 

Mr. John S. Kennedy offered the following resolu- 
tion, which was unanimously adopted ; 

Resolved, That the Committee an Internal Trade and 
Improvements be requested to consider and report to 
this -Chamber at a future meeting, whetlier in their 
judgment, any further action should be taken towards 
creating a public sentiment in favor of the United 
States Grovernment establishing above Fourteenth Street 
increased and necessary post-office facilities. 



67 



Heform of the Postal Service. 

Mr. Fkancis B. Thueber offered the following pre- 
amble and resolutions, which were referred to the Com- 
mittee on Internal Trade and Improvements for con- 
sideration : 

Whereas, The Postmaster-General, in his annual re- 
port to Congress, states that 

"The most urgent need of the postal service is the 
rectification of the enormous wrongs that have grown 
up in the perversion and abuse of the privilege accorded 
by laws to second-class matter. This reform is para- 
mount to all others ; for this costly abuse, which drags 
on the Department and weighs down the service, 
trammels its power and means of effective advancement 
in every direction. It involves a sheer wanton waste of 
$20,000,000 or upwards a year. 

"But for this wrongful application of the second- 
class rate, instead of a deficit, there would be a clear sur- 
plus of many millions. If this daily burden upon the 
mails were removed, the Department could hopefully en- 
ter upon a systematic policy of enlarged and progressive 
service, with the assurance that sound business manage- 
ment and increasing facilities would bring commensu- 
rate returns which would not be swallowed up in the 
maw of private interests without any public advan- 
tage." 

Resolved^ That the Chamber of Commerce of the 
State of New- York favors the passage of the Bill H. Ji. 
10,374, which has been introduced for the purpose of 
remedying this abuse. 

Resolr)ed, That copies of this resolution be sent to all 
members of Congress, the Postmaster-General, and such 
other persoQs as the Secretary of this Chamber may 
think advisable. 



58 
Proposed Reduction in the Internal Revenue Taxes. 

Mr. Thuebee also offered the following resolution 
which was referred to the same Committee : 

Resolved, In the opinion of this Chamber, that as 
soon as the revenues of the Government will permit, 
the stamp taxes, which were imposed as a war revenue 
measure, should be abolished, and, if it be impossible 
to abolish them all in the beginning, those upon tele- 
grams, express and freight receipts, passage tickets, 
proprietary articles and sales made upon exchanges, 
should be first abolished ; the latter especially, being 
unequal, oppressive and unjustly discriminative in 
character. 

Communication from Merchants of Havana, 

The President submitted a communication, dated 
Havana, March 23d, 1900, and signed by Messrs. C. 
Gaecia Zabala & Co., Bekito Alvaeez & Co., and 
R. V. Buck, merchants of that City, asking the aid of 
the Chamber to secure the reduction of the duties levied 
by the United States on crude petroleum imported into 
the Island of Cuba. 

The communication was referred to the Committee on 
Foreign Commerce and the Revenue Laws for consider- 
ation. 

Appointment of a Committee to Audit the Accounts of the 

Treasurer. 

The President appointed Messrs. Stephen W. Caeey 
and John H. Wood a Special Committee to audit the 
accounts of the Treasurer. 

The Chamber then adjourned. 



















A^ 



















' ^l(V -v^ ^5^A^ 




^•^e 



-^ a.-.^ ^A "TTT '^'«^ cS^ 



>*r' 









^^Iv 






^^ 



r«l 








LIBRARY OF CONGRESS « 

029 765 027 



